Tottenham v West Brom: Low-scoring affair expected

Tottenham v West Brom
Sunday 7 February, 12:00
Live on BT Sport

Grumpy Mourinho facing criticism

The wheels have well and truly come off for Spurs, which could be the reason why the bus has been remained parked for their last three games.

Joking aside, it's not a pretty picture for Jose Mourinho and his players at present, as the tactics from the manager don't look great, and the players aren't performing anywhere near their best either.

There is no good news to report on the injury situation either, as Harry Kane, Giovani Lo Celso, Sergio Reguilon and Dele Alli remain unavailable. Mourinho said in his press conference that Kane would be the first one back out of the lot, but that positive update is tempered by the fact that he won't be back until the Man City game at best.

Hope appears lost for the Baggies

Sam Allardyce is in grave danger of losing his tag of not being relegated from the Premier League, as he just hasn't been able to put a run together since he joined West Brom, and they head into Sunday's fixture in 19th place, 10 points adrift of safety.

The bottom three appear to be cut off at this stage, and with the Baggies taking just one point from matches against the other pair in their last two outings, it's hard to see a way out for them.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles has been brought in on-loan from Arsenal, and he will likely start in the midfield today, but fellow new recruit, Okay Yokuslu, only joined up with his teammates at the end of the week, so he will probably be on the bench.

Can we oppose the favourites?

When I think of a betting angle in the match odds, my initial instinct is can I see a way of opposing Spurs. They are 1.528/15 on the Betfair Exchange, which means they will be 1.538/15 to lay.

Since Kane limped off against Liverpool - in a game they were 1-0 down in at the time, they have been beaten 1-0 at Brighton, 1-0 by Chelsea, and they lost the Liverpool match 3-1.

Despite plenty of criticism, and the fact that they are up against a poor West Brom side, it's hard to imagine them changing too much in terms of personnel or tactics on Sunday.

The Baggies have played four times away from the Hawthorns since Allardyce arrived, and their results actually haven't been too bad.

A 1-1 draw at Anfield was followed by a 3-2 win at Wolves, and while they have lost their last two at West Ham and Sheffield United, it was only by a narrow 2-1 margin.

The West Brom victory is trading around the 8.07/1 mark, with the draw at 4.67/2. I think those prices are about right though, so for all I want to take Tottenham on, I am going to leave this market alone.

More negativity from Tottenham

When it comes to goals, I see potential in Under 2.5 at 2.0811/10. Not only do Spurs lose so much in terms of goals scored by Kane when he's not available, he has also become their main creator this season.

The England forward is their joint leading scorer with 12, but he also has 11 assists - which is five more than the next best, Heung-Min Son.

Son hasn't scored in the league since a goal against Leeds on January 2nd, and he hasn't looked threatening at all in the last two matches.

My enthusiasm for Unders is slightly tempered by the fact that since their 1-1 draw at Anfield, West Brom have played seven times in the league and all seven have had three goals or more.

That being said, they only scored seven times during that run - three of which were in one game - and I can't see the hosts racking up a big score against them.

Same Game Multi

Under 2.5 Goals is my first selection in my Same Game Multi, and don't forget that if you place a £10 SGM on a Premier League fixture this weekend, you will receive a £10 free bet once the match finishes.

When it comes to corners taken, Spurs are ranked 17th and West Brom 20th so far this term, so I am happy to add Under 9.5 Corners as my second pick.

The two teams also rank quite low on yellow cards - 17th and 16th respectively - so Under 30 Booking Points is my third selection.

If we take a slight risk and add in a Robert Snodgrass Shot on Target, we get a SGM of just shy of 51/1.

Key Opta Stat

In the past five seasons (including 2020-21), Tottenham have lost just two of their 28 Premier League games against sides starting the day in the relegation zone (W20 D6), with those defeats coming against West Brom (May 2018) and Newcastle (August 2019).